DirecTV - All posts tagged DirecTV

Now that 20 million DirecTV Corp. customers have had their access restored to Nickelodeon, MTV, TV Land and the other cable networks of Viacom Inc., analysts are weighing in, with some taking the view that the distributor emerged with more favorable terms in the type of battle that usually favors the programmer.

While Viacom Inc. and DirecTV grapple over as much as $1 billion in rights fees, one of the beneficiaries in that struggle could be Walt Disney Co., an analyst said Tuesday.

Nickelodeon logo

About 20 million DirecTV customers lost access to Viacom’s channels early Wednesday — including MTV, TV Land, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1 and BET — because the satellite provider couldn’t come to an agreement with Viacom on the renewal terms of their seven-year contract.

Nickelodeon is one of a handful of important kid’s channels, and DirecTV customers trying to calm down kids who don’t understand why they can’t watch “SpongeBob SquarePants” or “The Penguins of Madagascar” right this minute have to figure out something. Many of those parents will turn to one of the Disney networks – Disney Channel, Toon Disney or Disney Junior.

Though it stands on the sidelines, online video provider Netflix Inc.
is a factor in the current dispute between Viacom Inc. via
and DirecTV Corp.d

Some 20 million DirecTV DTV customers lost access to Viacom’s channels early Wednesday – including MTV, TV Land, Comedy Central, Nickelodeon, VH1 and BET – because the satellite provider couldn’t come to an agreement with Viacom on the renewal terms of their seven-year contract.

Under its proposal, Viacom is asking DirecTV to pay fees about 30%, or $1 billion, higher than it shelled out under the previous contract. The entertainment giant said its networks account for nearly 20% of all DirecTV viewing but less than 5% of its programming costs.

DirecTV said such a fee increase would be far more than the “fair value” of the channels, especially since Viacom has been troubled by ratings difficulties at several of its channels in recent years, most particularly Nickelodeon and MTV.

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